Our Circumstances
by InfernoMerrick
Summary: Fuutarou and Ichika find themselves under the same kotatsu.


Today was a study session day, one of the many they had each week. Four of the girls had went to get some coffee and pastries while the fifth girl took a nap in their apartment. Unfortunately, the rain had held back the four girls... at the coffee shop. With no umbrellas at hand, they'd have to wait for their chaffeur except he called in sick that morning. With nothing but the rainy weather and a 10 minute walk waiting for them, breakfast at a Starbucks didn't sound so bad.

The cold air sipping from the window interrupted Ichika's naptime, she still needed some getting used to the apartment's not-perfectly-artificially-moderated temperature. Unlike her previous 'ojou-sama' life, they never had to spare on gas for the stove or live on a strict rice diet for the last days to make it for the month.

Almost tripping from the drowsiness, she walks to the windows -a few drops of rain slipping in- shuts it firmly, and locks it just to be safe.  
"How long are they gonna take?" With a sigh she goes back to the kotatsu, Fuutaro has a key so she won't need to wake up to open the door for him.

...

Ichika is snapped out (again) of her dreams with a click of the lock, the quintuplet's apartment door opening to let just _one _person in.  
_"Fuutarou-kun? Where are the others?"_  
"I'm coming in... Ugh the weather forecast didn't say anything about this when I left. Ichika, is that you? Can I grab some towels?"  
As she was about to talk, a sudden realization came over her, and the oldest of the twins didn't move a muscle: the idea of being alone with him had just sinked in and her heart wasn't cooperating. So she pretended to be asleep.  
"Okay, I'll go grab one from the bathroom."  
He says, falling for Ichika's acting. But sooner or later he was gonna wake her up, and start the tutoring, all quintuplets present or not, so she decided on doing what she always does around Fuutaro: acting.

Towel over his shoulders and in clear need of some dry clothes, Fuutaro returned to the living room, not fazed by the low temperature in the slightest.  
In the most natural way, she rouses from under the kotatsu and stretches her arms. Feigning a yawn for good measure.  
"Ah Fuutaro-kun! What are you doing here? Did you just take a shower? Were you planning on doing something lewd?!"  
"I just got here! Remember you guys gave me the key?"  
"Hmm onee-san was just feeling a bit lonely here~"  
"Where are your sisters?"  
Ichika pouts in defeat, ignored even in this situation.  
"They went to grab some breakfast at Starbucks."  
"Starbucks? What a waste of money. Homemade breakfasts are the way to go."  
Ichika smiles to herself, _"That's so like him."_. What people would normally see as an annoying trait of Fuutaro was something she now loved about him, one of his quirks you might say. How many more would _they _know about? Right, _they_ as in, her and her sisters. She was just a fifth, not even one whole, she had to always share Fuu-kun with everyone but now she had him to herself and she was not gonna lose this chance.

He took a seat near the kotatsu, with the clear intent of tutoring the remaining quintuplet.  
"Are you gonna teach just me? Don't you think we should wait for the others to return?" She presses on to get Fuutaro to get a hint.  
"Did you finish all of your homework?" He replies unfazed, as always.  
"Uh yeah, here it is." She says while handing the notebook for him to check. Now's her chance.  
"So umm midterm exams were pretty tough, huh?"  
"Hmm. There were some more trick questions than last time."  
Fuutarou's hand didn't stop moving the entire time. He wasn't a man of small talk and didn't like wasting time that could be spent studying, but he made some exceptions for the Nakano sisters  
"Did you talk to your manager about your school plans?"  
"Yeah. He wants to me to focus on work, now that I'm getting more roles. But things got so complicated, didn't they? So I haven't told him my final decision yet."  
"Okay. Take your time, such important decisions shouldn't be taken lightly. Do whatever you think feels right. You have my full support whatever you choose."  
He said, and she just nodded with a little smile.

Ever since his mother's passing, Fuutarou's life was dedicated to the well being of his remaining family, especially his younger sister, Raiha. These circumstances coupled with staying out of touch with his social life had hardened the boy's heart. The Nakanos were the first friends he had made in years, after some bumps in their tutor-student relationship of course.

He was a man of logic over feelings, but even he understood Ichika's passion for acting and especially why she was working the most to help her sisters' maintain their new lifestyle, away from the same father that had hired him half a year ago and that made their meeting possible.

They sat in silence for the next minutes, the occasional scribbles on paper filling the warm air, and Ichika just basking in the company of her beloved Fuu-kun.

Seeing as the rest of the sisters were an hour late and he had already finished his corrections, Fuutarou stepped out from the kotatsu.  
"If no one is gonna come, I'll be going now."  
"Wait!" Ichika says trying not to sound too desperate. "The weather forecast says the rain will stop soon."  
He gave her a long stare, hesitating for a second. After which he took a seat now _next_ to Ichika. A light blush had ignited in her cheeks. It was just the room temperature, right?  
"_sigh_ I'm gonna rest my eyes until your sisters come back."  
_"Sleeping in a kotatsu next to a beautiful onee-san... he really doesn't see me as a woman, does he?"_ Feelings she denies to herself begin to surge, just for her to put them back in that place deep in her heart. Sleepiness washes over her thoughts before she can finish them.

She feels something warm, more warmer than before in her cheeks. Gazing up, she's just inches from Fuutarou's asleep face. "So close..." Somehow he didn't notice her falling asleep on his shoulder. His sleeping face was just as she had imagined, a big contrast to his normal stern face, she could look at it for hours. She slowly leaned in against him, not wanting that feeling of closeness to fade away.  
_"Things are fine this way. I want to keep them like this forever..."_  
Suddenly, a quartet of voices erupted near the apartment.  
"Oi, Itsuki you gonna finish the leftovers all by yourself?"  
"But I'm still hungry!"  
"Please, everyone, don't fight!"  
"Ugh so loud in the morning."

Ichika has never left the comfort of a kotatsu so fast in her life. Hopefully, this wasn't gonna be the last time.


End file.
